"Who is he?" I whispered to her, following him with my eyes.
"Captain Collinson."
"Yes, I heard the name. But--do you know anything of him?--who he is?"
She shook her head. "Not much; nothing of my own knowledge. He is in an Indian regiment, and is home on sick leave."
"I wonder which regiment it is? One of our fellows at Dr. Frost"s got appointed to one in Madras, I remember."
"The 30th Bengal Cavalry, is Captain Collinson"s. By his conversation, he appears to have spent nearly the whole of his life in India. It is said he is of good family, and has a snug private fortune. I don"t know any more about him than that," concluded Madame St. Vincent, as she once more rose to go to Lady Jenkins.
"He may have a snug private fortune, and he may have family, but I do not like him," put in Charlotte Knox, in her decisive manner.
"Neither do I, Lotty," added Dan--who was then at the tea-table: and his tone was just as emphatic as Charlotte"s.
He had come up for a cup of tea for Mina. Before he could carry it to her, Captain Collinson had taken up the place he had occupied at Mina"s elbow, and was whispering to her in a most impressive manner. Mina seemed all in a flutter--and there was certainly no further room for Dan.
"Don"t you want it now, Mina?" asked Dan, holding the cup towards her, and holding it in vain, for she was too much occupied to see it.
"Oh, thank you--no--I don"t think I do want it now. Sorry you should have had the trouble."
Her words were just as fluttered as her manner. Dan brought the tea back and put it on the tray.
"Of course, she can"t spare time to drink tea while _he_ is there,"
cried Charlotte, resentfully, who had watched what pa.s.sed. "That man has bewitched her, Dan."
"Not quite yet, I think," said Dan, quietly. "He is trying to do it.
There is no love lost between you and him, I see, Lotty."
"Not a ghost of it," nodded Lotty. "The town may be going wild in its admiration of him, but I am not; and the sooner he betakes himself back to India to his regiment, the better."
"I hope he will not take Mina with him," said Dan, gravely.
"I hope not, either. But she is silly enough for anything."
"Who is that, that"s silly enough for anything?" cried Madame St.
Vincent, whisking back to her place.
"Mina," promptly replied Charlotte. "She asked for a cup of tea, and then said she did not want it."
Some of the people sat down to cards; some to music; some talked. It was the usual routine at these soirees, Mrs. Knox condescended to inform me--and, what more, she added, could be wished for? Conversation, music, and cards--they were the three best diversions of life, she said, not that she herself much cared for music.
Poor Lady Jenkins did not join actively in any one of the three: she for the most part dozed in her chair. When any one spoke to her, she would wake up and say Yes or No; but that was all. Captain Collinson stood in a corner, talking to Mina behind a sheet of music. He appeared to be going over the bars with her, and to be as long doing it as if a whole opera were scored there.
At nine o"clock the supper-room was thrown open, and Captain Collinson handed in Lady Jenkins. Heavy suppers were not the mode at Lefford; neither, as a rule, did the guests sit down, except a few of the elder ones; but the table was covered with dainties. Sandwiches, meats in jelly, rissoles, lobster salad, and similar things that could be eaten with a fork, were supplied in abundance, with sweets and jellies.
"I hope you"ll be able to make a supper, my dear," said Lady Jenkins to me in her comfortable way--for supper seemed to wake her up. "You see, if one person began to give a grand sitting-down supper, others would think themselves obliged to do it, and every one can"t afford that. So we all confine ourselves to this."
"And I like this best," I said.
"Do you, my dear? I"m glad of that. Dan, is that you? Mind you make a good supper too."
We both made a famous one. At least, I can answer for myself. And, at half-past ten, Dan and I departed together.
"How very good-natured Lady Jenkins seems to be!" I remarked.
"She is good-nature itself, and always was," Dan warmly answered. "She has never been a bit different from what you see her to-night--kind to us all. You should have known her though in her best days, before she grew ill. I never saw any one so altered."
"What is it that"s the matter with her?"
"I don"t know," answered Dan. "I wish I did know. Sam tells me Tamlyn does not know. I"m afraid he thinks it is the break-up of old age. I should be glad, though, if she did not patronize that fellow Collinson so much."
"Every one seems to patronize him."
"Or to let him patronize them," corrected Dan. "I can"t like the fellow.
He takes too much upon himself."
"He seems popular. Quite the fashion."
"Yes, he is that. Since he came here, three or four months ago, the women have been running after him. Do _you_ like him, Johnny Ludlow?"
abruptly added Dan.
"I hardly know whether I do or not: I"ve not seen much of him," was my answer. "As a rule, I don"t care for those people who take much upon themselves. The truth is, Dan," I laughed jokingly, "you think Collinson shows too much attention to Mina Knox."
Dan walked on for a few moments in silence. "I am not much afraid of that," he presently said. "It is the fellow himself I don"t like."
"And you do like Mina?"
"Well--yes; I do. If Mina and I were older and my means justified it, I would make her my wife to-morrow--I don"t mind telling you so much. And if the man is after her, it is for the sake of her money, mind, not for herself. I"m sure of it. I can see."
"I thought Collinson had plenty of money of his own."
"So he has, I believe. But money never comes amiss to an extravagant and idle man; and I think that Mina"s money makes her attraction in Collinson"s eyes. I wish with all my heart she had never had it left her!" continued Dan, energetically. "What did Mina want with seven thousand pounds?"
"I dare say you would not object to it, with herself."
"I"d as soon not have it. I hope I shall make my way in my profession, and make it well, and I would as soon take Mina without money as with it. I"m sure her mother might have it and welcome, for me! She is always hankering after it."
"How do you know she is?"
"We do her business at old Belford"s, and she gets talking about the money to him, making no scruple of openly wishing it was hers. She bothers Dr. Knox, who is Mina"s trustee, to lend her some of it. As if Knox would!--she might just as well go and bother the moon. No! But for that confounded seven thousand pounds Collinson would let Mina alone."
I shook my head. He could not know it. Mina was very pretty. Dan saw my incredulity.
"I will tell you why I judge so," he resumed, dropping his voice to a lower key. "Unless I am very much mistaken, Collinson likes some one else--and that"s Madame St. Vincent. Sam thinks so too."
It was more than I thought. They were cool to one another.
"But we have seen them when no one else was by," contended Dan: "when he and she were talking together alone. And I can tell you that there was an expression on his face, an anxiousness, an eagerness--I hardly know how to word it--that it never wore for Mina. Collinson"s love is given to madame. Rely upon that."